Elinor Mackey has always succeeded. She excelled in college and
blossomed in law school. She married Ted, a handsome and successful
podiatrist and a loving and supportive husband. But now Elinor is
having trouble accepting the first and only failure in her life ---
the failure to have a baby.

After two years of temperature-taking and endless IVF treatments,
her once rock-solid marriage is beginning to suffer. She learns
that Ted is having an affair with his personal trainer, Gina, a
young woman with an incredible figure and a 10-year-old son. This
discovery sends Elinor running for her laundry room where she
compulsively washes and folds clothes: "It's comforting to wash and
fold clothes --- a task that's easy to complete. She runs small
unnecessary loads, just to be lulled by the sound of the dryer. She
especially likes the clinking of buttons and zippers --- a
metal-against-metal metronome that brings calm as she stares into
the blue screen of her laptop, never actually doing any
work."

Ted has been grappling with his own despair over the situation,
too. Perhaps embarking on an affair was the quick-fix and the wrong
way to ultimately handle the situation, but he feels totally left
out of the equation when it comes to Elinor and their struggle for
children. It hurts him too, and Gina provided a soft (yet firm)
place to land. He didn't count on falling for her or for making
such an impression on her young son, so desperate for a father
figure. Ted begins tutoring him in math, which only feeds young
Toby's fantasies about him becoming his new dad.

When confronted by Elinor, Ted realizes he has been stupid and
careless and breaks it off with Gina, who is hurt and chalks it up
to her poor judgment when it comes to men. So, Elinor and Ted go to
Dr. Brewster, their counselor, in an attempt to save their
marriage. Can they succeed?

In this outing, Lolly Winston once again takes on a serious subject
but infuses it with moments of levity and warmth. While the subject
of infertility is not a new topic, Winston takes her readers
through many twists and turns so no one knows quite where the story
will end up. Although not as strong an endeavor as her earlier
work, GOOD GRIEF, it does address a noteworthy issue. I wouldn't
exactly recommend it to couples suffering with infertility (because
it's a more realistic ending, not necessarily a happy one) but more
for fans of Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult.